The first result of this thesis is a generation theorem for bricks. A brick is a 3-connected graph such that the graph obtained from it by deleting any two distinct vertices has a perfect matching. The importance of bricks stems from the fact that they are building blocks of a decomposition procedure of Kotzig, and Lovasz and Plummer. We prove that every brick except for the Petersen graph can be generated from K_4 or the prism by repeatedly applying certain operations in such a way that all the intermediate graphs are bricks. We use this theorem to prove an exact upper bound on the number of edges in a minimal brick with given number of vertices and to prove that every minimal brick has at least three vertices of degree three. The second half of the thesis is devoted to an investigation of graphs that admit Pfaffian orientations. We prove that a graph admits a Pfaffian orientation if and only if it can be drawn in the plane in such a way that every perfect matching crosses itself even number of times. Using similar techniques, we give a new proof of a theorem of Kleitman on the parity of crossings and develop a new approach to Turan's problem of estimating crossing number of complete bipartite graphs. We further extend our methods to study k-Pfaffian graphs and generalize a theorem by Gallucio, Loebl and Tessler. Finally, we relate Pfaffian orientations and signs of edge-colorings and prove a conjecture of Goddyn that every k-edge-colorable k-regular Pfaffian graph is k-list-edge-colorable. This generalizes a theorem of Ellingham and Goddyn for planar graphs.

Dans cette thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés à l'analyse locale de systèmes différentiels linéaires singulièrement perturbés et de systèmes de Pfaff complètement intégrables et multivariés à croisements normaux. De tels systèmes ont une vaste littérature et se retrouvent dans de nombreuses applications. Cependant, leur résolution symbolique est toujours à l'étude. Nos approches reposent sur l'état de l'art de la réduction formelle des systèmes linéaires singuliers d'équations différentielles ordinaires univariées (ODS). Dans le cas des systèmes différentiels linéaires singulièrement perturbés, les complications surviennent essentiellement à cause du phénomène des points tournants. Nous généralisons les notions et les algorithmes introduits pour le traitement des ODS afin de construire des solutions formelles. Les algorithmes sous-jacents sont également autonomes (par exemple la réduction de rang, la classification de la singularité, le calcul de l'indice de restriction). Dans le cas des systèmes de Pfaff, les complications proviennent de l'interdépendance des multiples sous-systèmes et de leur nature multivariée. Néanmoins, nous montrons que les invariants formels de ces systèmes peuvent être récupérés à partir d'un ODS associé, ce qui limite donc le calcul à des corps univariés. De plus, nous donnons un algorithme de réduction de rang et nous discutons des obstacles rencontrés. Outre ces deux systèmes, nous parlons des singularités apparentes des systèmes différentiels univariés dont les coefficients sont des fonctions rationnelles et du problème des valeurs propres perturbées. Les techniques développées au sein de cette thèse facilitent les généralisations d'autres algorithmes disponibles pour les systèmes différentiels univariés aux cas des systèmes bivariés ou multivariés, et aussi aux systèmes d''equations fonctionnelles. / In this thesis, we are interested in the local analysis of singularly-perturbed linear differential systems and completely integrable Pfaffian systems in several variables. Such systems have a vast literature and arise profoundly in applications. However, their symbolic resolution is still open to investigation. Our approaches rely on the state of art of formal reduction of singular linear systems of ordinary differential equations (ODS) over univariate fields. In the case of singularly-perturbed linear differential systems, the complications arise mainly from the phenomenon of turning points. We extend notions introduced for the treatment of ODS to such systems and generalize corresponding algorithms to construct formal solutions in a neighborhood of a singularity. The underlying components of the formal reduction proposed are stand-alone algorithms as well and serve different purposes (e.g. rank reduction, classification of singularities, computing restraining index). In the case of Pfaffian systems, the complications arise from the interdependence of the multiple components which constitute the former and the multivariate nature of the field within which reduction occurs. However, we show that the formal invariants of such systems can be retrieved from an associated ODS, which limits computations to univariate fields. Furthermore, we complement our work with a rank reduction algorithm and discuss the obstacles encountered. The techniques developed herein paves the way for further generalizations of algorithms available for univariate differential systems to bivariate and multivariate ones, for different types of systems of functional equations.